Getting lost in hype, excitement and expectation in today’s tweeting, squeaking and beeping social networking society is as easy as a female of a nocturnal persuasion. It’s safe to say that Prometheus is just this, but instead of a calm transaction within its draped brothel, it thought it would be a good idea to steal my wallet and punch me in the face, leaving me unsatisfied, upset and smashing my expectations.
Directed by visionary filmmaker, Ridley Scott and written by high flying producer, Damon Lindelof, Prometheus has been a viral marketing goldmine. With each nerve shredding trailer and online viral (one including Michael Fassbender’s superb David), I was ready to open the door to my heart once again for Mr Scott. With wide eyes and high expectations I took my giddy self along to my local cinema.
What followed was a fully grown man of 21 years weeping into his £3.00 popcorn and a movie with a budget of the hundreds of millions going no where. With a script resembling a VS monster movie, only one character with any substance (who ironically is an android) and a plot of no discernable interest, it was hard to enjoy this origins story. Thanks to their unclear motives and reasoning, the mystery behind the Space Jockey (seen briefly in the original Alien) felt incredibly uninteresting and this too can be said of the main protagonists in the film. Each character clearly has a role to play in this mission to this uncharted part of space, on the whole however that is all they are – a piece of the furniture.
But Prometheus’ over-arching problems don’t rest there. The lack of tension and suspense left me scratching my head in frustration. Even in the ’chest burst moment’, there was something lacking. It feels as if this was caused by Ridley Scott’s delicate, almost dreamlike quality that the film is shrouded in. As a result the horror elements interspersed throughout just do not compliment well; like eating a roast dinner in a sauna. Even if Ridley vehemently denies this was an Alien prequel, it quite clearly has some relation to it.
Scott’s pedigree and reputation comes from having created arguably the scariest sci-fi horror film of all time, but Prometheus needed more claustrophobic elements like its loosely related counterpart and less of the confused mythology. However, I must concede that the film looks fantastic in 2D, and this is a testament to a filmmaker who knows how to work a camera and how the art of cinema works. From the opening shot of a cascading waterfall to superb set design, Prometheus is one fine looking film. But with a poor script and story, its substance is far from similar.
Perhaps my expectations got the better of me in the run up to the movie’s release. Perhaps I was suckered into the hype way to easily. But with a filmmaker and a cast as fine as this, it was difficult not feeling like I had been completely duped and misled.
2 Comments
Totally agree. Saw it in IMAX and it looked beautiful, but it’s just a poor script with poor character development. It ain’t no Alien.
yes, highly disappointing, from the time trashed cliches to the ‘black on blonde’ hypcritical stereotypical moment of ‘political correctness’ socio-stereotypes…i am done with Mr. Scott. – glad I didn’t pay for this movie.